RAGE 2 Xbox One review

RAGE 2

Rage 2 takes place some 30 odd years after the original title
that released way back in 2011, As you might know,
the world has been reduced to rubble after an asteroid hit the earth
and only some people have survived and formed factions to stay alive
in the brutal wastelands.

You the Hero; Ranger, Walker (choice of Female / Male) in the beginning,
One of the few remaining Rangers in the wastelands, is going
to bring order back to the chaos of the world by eliminating the Authority
opression of General Cross.

The story begins (don’t worry I won’t talk much about the story, so I don’t
spoil anything for you) with an surprise attack from the Authority leading
to a critical blow on the resistance fighters, and you furious and wanting
to seek revenge vowing to eliminate general Cross from this world.

And this is where your journey begins (after an amazing cutscene) that is
sure to get you pumped for some Raging action.

The game itself features some characters you might know/came across from the
original Rage game, Dr Kvasir, Loosum Hagar and John Marshall..
If you remember from the original game, they gave you quests/missions back
then also, and continue to do so now.

But don’t worry, you don’t need to have played the first game at all to
enjoy what Rage 2 offers. Rage 2 offers foremost fun over the top gun/ability
gameplay that will keep you entertained for a good while.

What you are looking at from a story point of view in Rage 2, is about
10-15 hours of gameplay depending on how quickly you want to rush things
but I enjoyed playing a ton of the side quests to gain upgrades for your
characters abilities and weapons between missions.

The game itself I feel really opens up a few hours in, when you start to
gain abilities and upgrades, and that’s where it gets the most fun.

And speaking of upgrades, almost everything in the game is upgradeable.
I have added a ton of screenshots above, where you can take a look
at the menus for upgrades etc. So everything from your guns/vehicles
to your abilities to use Ark technology is upgradeable.

And there are a ton of fun abilities you will gain access to, during
your playtime. Such as Shatter (think of a force push) that also
will break an enemies armor, Vortex a singularity that pulls enemies
into it.. and my favorite Overdrive, that gives you superpowers and
regenerates health is like a speed rush and enemies take more damage.

What you will want to focus on in the open world is actually pretty much
picking up all the loot boxes laying around as they will contain
the items / cash needed for these upgrades, and they do not come cheap
for the most part. Also clearing bandit camps, roadblocks and convoys
roaming the open world will net you parts & cash/feltrite (sort of cash) for
these upgrades.

Besides bandit camps, convoys etc I mentioned above, there really is a ton
to do in the open wasteland world this time around. Everything you can do
is categorized into four groups, Capture and Control, Kill and Destroy,
Search and Recover, and Activities.

Capture and Control consists of taking out Authoritan sentries around
the world, defeating heavy armored Convoys and destroying fueling points
to name a few things to do.

Kill and Destroy again features taking out Bandit Dens, Mutant nests..
and is straight out mayhem.

Search and recover builds on the backstory, with finding fallen
Ranger echos, finding Arks for new abilities / weapons and harvesting
meteorites for Feltrite (sort of cash).

Activities is your playground with things such as Races, Bounty Hunting
for rewards and Mutant Bash TV killing hordes in rounds for that score!

And to 100% complete the game, you will surely spend countless hours in
the wastelands racing, shooting, looting, bounty hunting.

Also the fun won’t stop here if or when you 100% the game. As there is
a roadmap in place for Rage 2 featuring free content downloads
and also Paid DLC additions coming later on. Below is the picture
of the official announcement.

Graphically RAGE 2 is a good looking game running at a solid 60fps
without hitches on a Xbox One X (which I have played on) and
the base systems such as the S and Original would be running
the game at a lower 30 frames per second, notable here is that
for a new game there is no HDR on this title. But still running
at a fluid 60fps on the X and being quite colorful already
the lack of HDR is no big deal in my eyes.

You will also have alot of fun playing with the Photo mode,
and it’s stickers.

I don’t really know what a wasteland should sound like, but
the music/guns/cars effects all sound good to me, the voice
acting is what it is but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s bad.

The developers included a fun easter egg type thing where
you can find and purchase the Danny Dyer (English bad-ass actor)
voice commentary for the game, and get some laughs out of that.

Final Words

Rage 2 is alot of fun if you take it for what it is, an over-the-top
shooter, with brilliant combat mechanics and abilities.
The story is short clocking in at 10-15 hours, but the wasteland
activities to 100% it and keep on shooting adds longevity to the game,
also upcoming DLC and free content should make us keep our eye’s on this.

Some random crashes occured during my playthrough and odd bugs like
getting stuck into walls, which I am sure will be fixed later on.

But I would recommend Rage 2 to anyone who likes a crazy open world
shooter type game, it’s Doom, Mad Max, Far Cry all blended into a
Rage Shake!

Thank you to the Developer for supplying a review code to the game.

Rage 2 is out now on PC / PS4 / Xbox One

Please see your local game store or online store for
geographical pricing.